As vehicle manufacturers develop new vehicles or modify (update) existing vehicles, a model is typically created during the design and development process. This is especially true with respect to the design and development of new vehicles. In fact, multiple model vehicles may be created during this process. Model vehicles may be used for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, evaluating the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle exterior and/or interior, evaluating vehicle ergonomics such as ingress/egress, control layout and position, and passenger room, as well as for checking visibility and sight lines. As can be understood, it is often desirable that a model vehicle be as accurate as possible in appearance, in dimension, and in spatial relationship between features and components.
Various techniques exist for creating model vehicles. For many years, and especially prior to the advent of computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided engineering (CAE) techniques, model vehicles were largely sculpted from large blocks of clay or from clay layered over a rough sub-structure of wood or other substantially rigid material. Clearly, such a modeling technique is not only time consuming, it is also costly and requires the use of highly skilled and highly practiced craftsmen.
Although clay modeling is still used, other vehicle modeling techniques have been developed, many of which rely on digital data obtained from CAD and/or CAE systems used to design and develop the vehicle of interest. In these model vehicle building techniques, the digital model data may be supplied to various automated machinery that can use the digital data to produce model vehicle components from supplied specimens of some machinable material.
Despite the use of these digital data-based model construction techniques, the creation of model vehicles has nonetheless remained a fairly laborious and complex process—particularly when a full size, substantially complete and dimensionally accurate model vehicle is desired or necessary. Particularly, even these known digital data-based modeling techniques normally require the construction of a multi-piece base platform (e.g., floor pan) upon which other model components are installed. These known techniques also generally require that the remaining components necessary to complete the model vehicle (e.g., hood, roof, deck lid, pillars, doors, fenders, quarter panels, etc.) be individually created and subsequently affixed to the base platform and to each other. While these known digital data-based modeling techniques are quicker and no doubt more dimensionally accurate than clay modeling or other more rudimentary modeling techniques, such digital data-based modeling techniques are still costly and require the expenditure of a large number of man and machine hours.
Therefore, it should be apparent that a more efficient and cost effective technique of model vehicle construction would be desirable and advantageous. A rapid model vehicle construction system and method of the present invention provides such a technique.